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Friday, March 1, 2013

Book Review: Homegrown Faith

When I read the title and synopsis of this book I was under the
impression that it was a book of ideas and practical advice for raising a
Catholic family. I was surprised to open the book and see that it is a
devotional book of anecdotes. Although I am not particularly a fan of
devotionals, this one had the workings of a good devotional but missed
the mark. It was harder to navigate than it was worth. For example, the
book is divided into liturgical seasons and begins with Advent. Instead
of labeling the chapters "1st week of Advent... 2nd week of Advent...
etc" they are just named after whatever topic they cover, leading it to
be a confusing mess if you are like me and are planning to follow along
with the liturgical calendar.

With all of that said, the book
has some pleasant stories that are well-written and fun to read. The
stories come from a mom who has definitely spent some time in the
trenches and knows what it's like to raise up a Catholic family. I
enjoyed the "Growing Spiritually This Week" section at the end of each
chapter as well. This section has four practical ideas that you can
implement immediately after reading the section of the week. I think it
would make for a great mom book/ Bible study. As I said earlier, I love
the idea of having a Catholic devotional that goes along with the
liturgical calendar but I just didn't like the way this one was
implemented. If the author could fix it so that there are dates or at
least some benchmark feast days to kind of keep the reader on track,
this book would be a perfect devotional. Overall, though, I think this
book is worth putting out the cash to purchase for your Catholic home
library.

I received this book free of charge from Tiberriver.com reviewer program in exchange for my honest review!

You have a great love of history and liturgy. You’re attached to the traditions of the ancients, yet you recognize that the old world — great as it was — is passing away. You are loyal to the customs of your family, though you do not hesitate to call family members to account for their sins.

I won the big clicks award

May 2012

DISCLOSURE: Almost every book link that I post is an Amazon affiliate link. It does not affect the prices that you pay for the books but gives me a little commission for sending you their way. A lot of the book reviews that I post are for books that I receive free of charge from the publishers and I try to note that on each review. For a list of publishers/PR companies I review for, check out the "About Me" tab at the top of my blog.